President Trump urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and ripped the head of the independent central bank as new tariffs caused stocks to plunge.
In a Friday post on his Truth Social messaging platform, Trump accused Fed Chair Jerome Powell — a fellow Republican — of refusing to cut interest rates for political reasons.
“This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always “late,” but he could now change his image, and quickly,” Trump wrote Friday.
Trump then claimed the prices of several food and energy products had already fallen since he took office, even as inflation as remained close to 3 percent.
“A BIG WIN for America. CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s Friday post is a major escalation of his pressure on the Fed to cut interest rates, which could ease pressure on the stock market as investors brace for the impact of the president’s tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 1,000 points shortly after 11 a.m. EDT Friday after losing close to 1,700 points Thursday. The Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 index were also down more than 3 percent Friday morning, a day after all three indexes suffered their worst single-day losses since 2020.
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